This would most likly be a meteorite shower which could last for months.
As seen on TV1 news tonight there was a sighting in the sky last night at about sunset and also going by Borris, sighting this could well be a meteorite shower.
So could there be more across the world lets hope not too big and none land in the ocean or populated area's.
Would such an event as this cause disruption to our weather? the vapour trails and gases from the meteorite affect us just like a Volcano or an atomic bomb would. Has there been scientific work done on this.
Is this the first time a boom such as this has been heard from a meteorite before because I don't recall anything.
My parents said there was a shower of metal balls over NZ quite some years ago anyone remember this?.
Cheers
Jason.
A daylight fireball is an unusual thing, and having one that generates a widely experienced sonic boom is something special!
With more reports coming in, it seems clear now that it MAY have been travelling south to north and the TV1 clip of the police officer in Hanmer describing a break-up indicates that any remnants may have fallen into the sea. (which contradicts with Paul Mallinson's posting of something passing over a southbound aircraft and exploding in the distance toward Christchurch).
These events are notoriously hard to research as members of the public only see them for a second or two, so naturally the reports suggest that the object was closer, lower etc. And researching the observation is hampered by the lack of fixed land-based reference points.
A couple of useful comments today from various astronomers:
Alan Gilmore (Resident Superintendent of Mt John Observatory) suggested the trajectory had to be lower than 60 km in altitude for the sonic boom to have been heard because of atmospheric layers which would reflect the soundwaves.
Prof Jack Baggaley (who must be Mr Meteor Astronomy in New Zealand as he's been working at the science for a couple of decades) suggested that the bolide (a meteor that explodes in the atmosphere) could have been as high as 10 km when it broke up.
Dimmit, dammit, I bet he didn't have his radar gear at Birdlings Flat running at the time!
The only thing that came through during Jack's interview on TV1 that I'd take issue with, was that these things take place once a year (or so). It's always difficult, as we don't really know the question that he was asked - yes, we probably get one of these events a year on average, but today's event which rattled windows etc in Christchurch was somewhat more spectacular.
Makes me want to take up meteor astronomy again! And it reminds me of fireball events which were experienced at Waikanae (and inland) on the Kapiti Coast north of Wellington when I was living there between 1998 and 2002. Various residents experienced night-time fireball events (sights and/or sounds) in the mid-to-late October period. This might be the year to keep an eye out if you live in the area.
Jasestrm: No, one fireball does not make a meteor shower. Today's daylight fireball was spectacular in its own right, but a meteor shower (where you have upwards of 5 meteors per hour from one location in the sky) is something to see. And then a meteor storm (30+ per hour from one location in the sky) like the Perseid shower sometimes does once in a lifetime, is even more exciting!
Similar experience for me.. Being an aircraft enthusiast I know the difference between a plane and "other"! I was on the beach in Sumner one cloudless day round about 2001 and saw out to the east way over the sea, what looked like a very fast jet, but glowing like a daytime shooting star. After ringing the police, they informed me after speaking to an astronomer that i'd seen a meteor that had entered and skipped back out of the atmosphere!
No noise like yesterday's one, though! I personally feel VERY privileged that my first sonic boom was from a meteor! I was supposed to hear one at an air show in 1997 in the states, but the SR-71 that was gonna do it has issues inflight refuelling, so I missed out! Not this time!
There was a report in the local paper, (i think it was) re the size of the Hawkes Bay Meteorite to be that of a basket ball. My wife said if felt like something had slammed into the side of the house. Pretty impressive, that being the case it would not an object of very large proportions to do considerable damage. Would you be able to detect a piece of rock the size of a house hurtling througfh space?
Jasestrm wrote:
My parents said there was a shower of metal balls over NZ quite some years ago anyone remember this?.
Cheers
Jason.
Yes I do. Somewhere in the mid 1970s, I think. One melted ball-shaped item fell in a farmer's paddock - was in Canty or north Otago perhaps - memory is hazy on that. Believed to be the remnant of a Soviet spacecraft at the time.
Paul Mallinson wrote:
We have had several reports. One from an aircraft 15 miles east of Cape Campbell heading south to Christchurch. At 2:55pm an object was seen to pass overhead and explode in the distance (towards CHCH) at an elevation about 30degrees above the horizon. Smoke trails and pieces were seen falling and then a second explosion occurred.
Sounds to me like this was probably a fireball (or perhaps a piece of space junk?).
Paul
Paul, I've sent you a PM re this as I think the report from the aircraft will be of interest to Prof. Baggaley of the University of Canterbury. He's looking for reports that will help him work out a trajectory for the bolide, and possibly calculate an orbit for the material.
I remember one night while I was listeining to the scanner, maybe about 9 months ago, an off duty police officer thought he saw a flare out off the coast of Blenheim. Nothing more was seen after what the Police officer saw. It was also sighted as far outh as Kaikoura and (my memory is stretched) either Wellington or Picton.
After about an hour or two, the police gave up the watch. I guess they presumed it was a comet. If an off duty police officer thought it was a flare must have been pretty bright!!
One of the kids pointed out there were 5 or 6 reported yesterday in Queensland!
I haven't found any reports on that yet, but she mentioned Townsville.
After this article appeared, some are starting to theorise that yesterdays South Island event was Suitsat crashing back to earth. I heard it was predicted to re enter the atmosphere and burn up on the 8th of September.
Jasestrm wrote:My parents said there was a shower of metal balls over NZ quite some years ago anyone remember this?.
Cheers
Jason.
A shower of metal balls? geez wouldnt wanna get hit by one of those
Yeah, a couple still reside in the Ashburton Airport Museum, along with their recently acquired Harrier Jumpjet! The balls were off a Soyuz unmanned spacecraft that i'm not exactly sure what happened to, but they were external oxygen or nitrogen tanks... Here's a pic of the display with an actual ball...
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Amazing. I have had the opportunity to witness two such meteors on 2 separate occasions in the last couple of years, both travelling the width of the sky, 25 seconds or so each. No sonic boom though sadly. Very frightening!!! It was around that time somewhere in north Auckland several cars had to slam on their breaks to avoid an impact crater and also the same time a meteor crashed through a roof in Greenlane. We must have been travelling through a small field at the time. Apparently Spring is the best time to see such events due to the change of postion on our orbit. The most frightening thing to think about is the fact that a small meteor travelling at, lets say, 11-12km/sec, and at a ground impact size of 1 meter can eliminate all life on Earth. Furthermore, if we are lucky enough to have such a meteor burn up in the atmosphere, the very air movement caused by the meteor can still cause mass devestation as seen in the Russian disaster, http://www.psi.edu/projects/siberia/siberia.html
Currently the US is watching only 2% of the sky for such threats because of a lack of funding from the govt.
Cameo1 wrote: The most frightening thing to think about is the fact that a small meteor travelling at, lets say, 11-12km/sec, and at a ground impact size of 1 meter can eliminate all life on Earth.
One metre? I don't think so! What I read is talking about kilometre-scale diameters.
I'm only recalling being told that the width of a mini would be enough to devastate the Earth, depending where it hits. I will however check that up again because I may have got my wires crossed I was told inertia did the most damage rather than the actual rock. The fact that an interplanetary object has entered the atmosphere at 11-12 km/sec means that the initial size of the object which may have been several Km wide would have been significantly reduced in size due to friction etc. But the air it had punched a hole in is still moving long after the main rock has gone, so in effect the small fragment may or may not reach Earth, and yet still have all the force of inertia of 10 Hiroshima behind it. It's like when you slam on your breaks, the car(meteor) stops(disintegrates), but you keep moving forward.
I would really like to get hold of Cavan O Connell of Hoon Hay who caught the whole thing on video even the boom I am sure many others would like to see it too.
Cheers
Jason.
A colleague of mine who has looked into these matters at times made this comment....
The world would die very quickly if something like Hale-Bopp hit us viz:
Size of nucleus: 40km (25mi.)
Speed of comet at perihelion = 98,000 miles per hour
This is very substantially more destructive than the dinosaur-killer which was only 10Km and 45,000Km/hour. Assuming the same density and assuming that it is a sphere, the energy is about 80x for Hale-Bopp.
or populated area's.
I was told inertia did the most damage rather than the actual rock. The fact that an interplanetary object has entered the atmosphere at 11-12 km/sec means that the initial size of the object which may have been several Km wide would have been significantly reduced in size due to friction etc. But the air it had punched a hole in is still moving long after the main rock has gone, so in effect the small fragment may or may not reach Earth, and yet still have all the force of inertia of 10 Hiroshima behind it. It's like when you slam on your breaks, the car(meteor) stops(disintegrates), but you keep moving forward.